


Unlikely Matchmakers

by Ultra



Series: Nate's Niece [1]
Category: Leverage, Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Breaking Up & Making Up, Crossover, F/M, Family, Fights, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Love, Matchmaking, Uncle-Niece Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-08
Updated: 2012-04-08
Packaged: 2018-08-08 09:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7751734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the most unlikely people make the best matchmakers; sometimes the most unlikely relationships turn out to be epic. Timeline: post-S3 Veronica Mars / AU S3 Leverage (yes, I know the timelines don't match, just go with it).</p><p>(Originally written for hannasus)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unlikely Matchmakers

Nate reacted with surprise and discomfort when the drapes were thrown open and the sun flooded the living room.

“Seriously, Uncle Nate,” his niece said, ignoring his displeasure as she breezed by into the kitchen area. “I appreciate you coming to visit, always happy to see you, but I really don’t think my Dad is going to appreciate you emptying the small selection of booze he keeps in,” she said, turning the empty scotch bottle upside down above the counter and waving it at him.

“Good morning, Veronica,” said Nate with a look as he sat himself up on the couch, disentangled himself from the blanket that had been covering him, and ran a shaky hand over his face. “Y’know I really don’t think Keith would deny me a little drink.”

“Little, huh?” the blonde gave him a look, somewhere between amused and disappointed somehow. “You wanna talk about it?”

It was still amazing to him how intuitive she could be at barely nineteen, but then she took after the smart folks in the family, that was for sure. She already had her PI license, and gave her Dad a run for his money when it came to cracking cases and all. There was no way even a mastermind thief was going to get away with lying to her, at least not for long.

“I told you, I’m in town for work,” he repeated what he had said last night, but she believed him no more now than she had then.

“Uh-huh,” she nodded, “but you have a team for work, I know that much about your odd little business arrangements,” she recalled as she started on breakfast for the two of them. “How come they’re not here, or you’re not with them?”

“Well...” he began, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.

Veronica went to answer it immediately, though she did wonder who would be calling at such an hour. She got a not-unpleasant surprise when she opened up the door and was met by a man that was way off the top of the hot scale.

“Good morning, ma’am,” he smiled. “Er, I’m looking for a friend of mine, I think you might know him, Nathan Ford?” he asked.

Honestly, Veronica was a little too taken aback to even hear the question. Damn, but this guy was built, and gorgeous, and though she didn’t usually go for guys with longer hair, on him it just worked in all kinds of ways. When she finally managed to focus on his face, she began drowning in blue eyes and still couldn’t unravel the simple question he had asked her.

“Eliot?” said Nate, opening it wider as he appeared at his niece’s side. “What are you doing here? How’d you even know where I was?”

“This is a friend of yours?” asked Veronica then, finally taking her eyes off Eliot long enough to look back at her uncle. “You two are... friends?” she asked again, finding it strange, but not really able to explain why.

“We work together,” the hotness on the doorstep confirmed, as Nate ushered him inside, “and yeah, we’re friends, I guess,” he smirked.

Nate rolled his eyes at both that and the fact Veronica was staring at his hitter in a disturbing way for his niece to be looking at anyone. What was perhaps slightly more worrying was the way Eliot looked back at her.

“Veronica,” her uncle cut into her train of non-thought with a sharp tone she’d barely heard since childhood. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Y’know, someplace nineteen year old girls go?” he emphasised.

“The best you’re getting is me going to my room,” she said then, rolling her eyes for good measure, and turning back from half way down the hall to ask. “You got a last name, Eliot?” she asked curiously.

“Yeah,” he replied with that smirk that made him all the more sexy and annoying in equal measure, like somebody else she knew so well.

As soon as she was gone and her bedroom door clicked shut, the smile disappeared from Eliot’s face and he turned serious eyes on his friend.

“Man, you gotta come to the hotel and fix this thing with Sophie,” he said, almost desperately. “She is unbearable right about now, and she’s got Parker all fired up too, some kind of sister solidarity crap,” he complained. “Point is, your screwed up relationship is now bustin’ up mine, and I’m not happy, Nate.”

Unhappy Eliot was going to give the mastermind as much of a headache as unhappy Sophie apparently. So much for running over here to the Mars place for some peace and quiet while things settled down. Right now, Nate really wished he hadn’t finished all the scotch so fast!

* * *

“Woah, sorry,” Logan apologised, righting the woman he almost knocked flying as they met in the lobby of the Neptune Grand.

“No problem,” said Sophie with a slow smile. “I could have run into worse people.”

Logan wasn’t sure how to take that. He understood a compliment when it was paid to him as well as the next guy, but he was sure this British chick was at least old enough to be his Mom. Of course, that didn’t stop her being pretty sexy and all.

“Well, I should be going... unless you need help?” he asked, not actually moving away for a moment. “Are you lost, or...?”

“No,” she confirmed. “Well, not in the way you mean,” she sighed. “Relationships; more bloody trouble that they’re worth, but I guess you’re too young to know.”

“You’d be surprised how much I know on the topic,” said Logan with a look.

Sophie met his eyes then and saw the trouble in them, all the hurt and the pain. Yes, this boy had been in love, and he’d suffered for it. Maybe he did know how she really felt. He had to be better than Hardison, Parker, or Eliot. They were sweet in their way, but not much help. The hitter just didn’t want to get involved, the hacker didn’t want to take sides either but found a way to defend Nate no matter what, whilst the little thief just repeated anything Sophie said that was anti-men as if it were a war cry. She was trying, bless her heart, but it got a little wearing after a while. It was at least a half an hour now since she convinced everyone to leave her alone.

“So, I’m Logan,” said the young man before her then, “and I have two good listening ears and pretty broad shoulders to cry on,” he told Sophie with a smirk.

“Sophie,” she replied with a hint of a smile. “I’m not your Mrs Robinson, that understood?”

“Completely,” her new friend confirmed as he put a hand to her back and manoeuvred her towards the elevator. “Besides, I already did the Benjamin Braddock thing. It got old pretty fast.”

* * *

“Nate, c’mon!” Eliot was still arguing with his friend about apologising to Sophie and putting things right when Veronica came breezing out of her room, almost the exact same moment there was a knock on the door.

“Hey, you must be Parker and Alec,” she greeted the bemused pair at the door.

“Darlin’, what’re you doin’ here?” asked Eliot as his girlfriend came in and promptly kissed him on the mouth.

“We were invited,” she shrugged. “Besides, being all in the sisterhood of solidarity with Sophie got boring,” she complained, not whispering very successfully when she continued. “I missed having sex with you last night.”

“Wow,” said Veronica, pretending to clean out her ear with her finger. “Kinda wish I could unhear that.”

“Amen, sister,” agreed Hardison, offering her a fist bump that she gladly accepted.

“Okay!” said Veronica quickly, clapping her hands together. “I’ll be taking your questions in the car,” she told her uncle, pointing at him with both hands still clapped together, “but right now, we’re taking all of you guys back to the Neptune Grand to figure out a) Uncle Nate’s relationship issues, and b) how you’re gonna commit your latest people-helping crime that I’m going to go back to pretending I don’t know about inside an hour,” she told them all, much to their evident surprise.

“Veronica...” Nate began, putting a hand to his already pounding head that was not being assisted by this confusion.

“C’mon, Uncle Nate,” she rolled her eyes for the second time that morning as she pulled on her jacket and picked up her keys. “I scored a ninety five on my PI exam; I’ve worked in and around the law business every day since I was twelve,” she reminded him. “I know a criminal when I see one standing in my living room, and oh look, four of ‘em,” she said, swirling her finger around the circle of people there.

There was no need to explain, Nate already knew that. He did love that his niece was this sharp. He loved that somehow she not only managed to know who and what he was and still love him, but also that she wanted to help him fix things with the love of his life and his team all at once.

As Hardison, Parker, and Eliot filed out of the apartment, Nate hung back and put a hand to his niece’s arm.

“You’re a remarkable young woman, Veronica Mars,” he told her honestly.

“It’s all about the genetics,” she shrugged and smiled at the same time as they finally left together, their arms around each other.

* * *

Logan was a little relieved when he finally heard the keycard swiped outside the door, and the voice of his girlfriend as she let herself in. It wasn’t that Sophie was bad company, but she had a gift for over-dramatics that was starting to get to him. Plus, despite her assurances that she did not want to be his older and sexy plaything, he was pretty sure she was coming onto him.

“Hi, honey, we’re home,” his girlfriend joked as she waltzed in with her arm around Nate and his arm around her shoulders still.

“Who’s the blonde?” asked Sophie as she rose from the couch, eyes flashing with steely anger.

“That would be my blonde,” confirmed Logan as he extracted her from her uncle’s grasp and hugged her close. “Mr Ford, I’m Logan,” he introduced himself, shaking Nate’s hand.

Nate only nodded absently, before turning his full attention on Sophie. The look that past between them told Veronica that now was a good time to leave. She and Logan slipped out of the door, the blonde a little surprised to find only Hardison now outside in the hall when she knew she had left three people there.

“Where are Eliot and Parker?” she asked, needing no actual answer when she realised she could hear very distinctive noises coming from the next room. “Oh,” she said, turning away then.

She didn’t even wonder how they got in, given how good Parker was with locks and all. She knew the reputation of every thief on her uncle’s team, and about almost all the jobs they pulled to assist those the law could not help. She had great respect for these people, in spite of the fact they were criminals, and really hoped Uncle Nate could continue to be happy, not only with his work but also with Sophie.

“You think they’ll be okay?” asked Logan as they headed for the elevator. “Your Uncle and Sophie, I mean” he confirmed, trying not to hear Parker as she squealed and giggled in the room she was occupying with Eliot.

Poor Hardison already had his headphones on, with the volume up to maximum, as he over-rode the key card system on his way into another nearby room.

“Yeah, I think they’ll be fine,” smiled Veronica, leaning in close to her boyfriend. “From what I know, they seem pretty epic,” she said as she looked up at him them. “You just can’t argue with epic.”

Logan answered her with a kiss that went on and on, as the elevator doors closed and hid them from the world.


End file.
